More than 2,300 vessels entered Ukrainian ports during the year since the Black Sea shipping corridor was launched. Cargo turnover was over 64 million tonnes.
This was announced at a government meeting by Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal.
Almost 44 million tonnes of grain were exported from Ukraine.
"Ukrainian exporters increased physical sales of their goods by 35% in the first half of 2024. We have reached pre-war export levels," the Prime Minister said.
He added that since the first day of its invasion, Russia has been doing everything to block Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea. In this way, Russians were putting pressure on the economy of Ukraine and its allies, creating threats to global food security. Shmyhal reminded that the grain corridor was made possible by three things.
"The first and most important thing is the successful actions of our Security and Defence Forces in the Black Sea. The second is a unique initiative to insure war risks for merchant ships, which we are doing together with international insurance companies. The third is the restoration of Ukraine's port infrastructure and investments in its development," the Prime Minister stressed.
- In August 2023, Ukraine announced a "humanitarian corridor" in the Black Sea to free ships stuck in its ports after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and to circumvent a de facto blockade after Russia backed out of a deal to allow Kyiv to export grain.
- In October, it was reported that Russia was going to mine the corridor on the approach to Ukrainian ports.
- As early as January 2024, the Ukrainian grain corridor was already operating at its capacity before Russia's full-scale invasion.
- In March, Ukraine's permanent representative to the UN Security Council, Serhiy Kyslytsya, said that Russia was deliberately targeting ports to stop the initiative.